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December 2007
Interview: Lord Michael Walker
 Lord Michael Walker recently retired after a military career which culminated in his reaching the position of Head of Defence Staff. He is now Governor of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea; better known as the home of the world-renowned Chelsea Pensioners. He is also co-Trustee, along with Interregna MD Malcolm Alexander, of the Tutu Foundation UK, a new charitable Trust which will support leadership projects in Africa and the UK, with a special emphasis on reconciling cultural differences.
I meet Lord Walker in his office at the Royal Hospital on a crisp autumn day which makes the hospital’s grounds- and ample central London real estate- look particularly attractive. A new wing to cater for more elderly servicemen is taking shape nicely. Walker enthuses: “I adore talking to the gentlemen here. This is one of the few places in Britain doing exactly what it did when it was conceived (by Charles II) and built (by Sir Chirstopher Wren) in 1692; and it is needed as much now as it was then.”
Despite the fact that Lord Walker’s career in the military means he has never actually run a business, the Royal Hospital is living proof that military discipline is eminently capable of providing value for money. “We have 65 acres of prime London real estate, and the men here receive three square meals a day and the best medical care available, on-site. We provide that for what works out at £680 per pensioner per week; which is pretty impressive given that a London care home can tally up beyond £1500 per week.” For those readers who want ‘metrics’,the most astonishing fact is that the Royal Hospital’s residents live, on average, eight to ten years longer than the average ex-serviceman.
So what else can business learn from the military? Whilst there are plenty of business books which use military analogy to design business practice, Lord Walker is at pains to point out that there are more differences than similarities: “In the army, you start at the beginning and work your way up to the top. You couldn’t be imported in from outside to run a military operation. Wherever you go, you go with a team who has a level of experience and understanding of the problem.” In today’s workplace, conversely, where three years is considered a lengthy employment, skills can quickly be lost to other companies. Equally, the army is therefore slow-moving, with new practices taking time to adopt.
“The other big difference is in solving problems,” says Walker. “If your company has a challenge- say, supply or communication, you allocate funds and solve it. The military is funded by the government, so we can’t do that. Sorting things out is tortuous: any issue involving the Chancellor and treasury will require several rubber stamps before expenditure is approved.” In Walker’s words, businesses have the benefit of “Flash to Bang”: spot a problem (or an opportunity) and you have the flexibility to do something about it, fast.
Yet few businesses live in a world with more unpredictability than the armed forces. Walker reminds me of some of the British engagements which Iraq has eclipsed in the media: “Sierra Leone, East Timor, Bosnia… all of these campaigns arise out of the blue. I even remember talking to the Anglo-Deutsche Gesellschaft in September 1989 and asking whether they thought the Berlin wall would ever come down. They said ‘absolutely not!’. Nothing in our business is predictable”.
“Procurement in the army is very different to business. A business can buy a product off the street, and always keep it up to date. We have the complications of politicisation, and also the simple fact that almost everything we use needs specialist modifications; and that can take years. The Eurofighter was commissioned in the 1970’s! Plus, of course, once contracts are signed, it usually costs more to get out of them than to stay in. These are the debates we have at the top level of army management.”
So, whilst you may learn something from Sun Zhu’s “Art of War”, businesses are considerably more agile than armies- Walker summarises “Companies are leading edge. Armies are always out of date.”
Where the military and business do meet is in finding solutions to common challenges- resource management for example. The Defence Review of necessity makes planning assumptions, and there will inevitably be a shortage: “overstretch”. Walker says: “We know that in particular Iraq and Afghanistan are theatres with no foreseeable conclusion. But Bosnia was just the same: the Dayton Agreement lasted for one year, yet fifteen years on the international peacekeeping forces (EUFOR) are only just beginning to stand down. In the modern theatre of war, particularly in warlord environments like Afghanistan, we have to be in it for the long haul until economic reconstruction starts to take seed. That places new stresses on defence departments the world over.” Walker notes here that these are cross-border decisions: NATO remains the core of our defence commitment, and there are actually 37 countries involved in policing Afghanistan today.
And the solution to these new demands on resources? Just as with business, it’s carrots and sticks. The carrot is more money, in the form of the Financial Retention Incentive. The stick is a reduction in the time between deployments. Active duties are usually 24 months apart (with family time, reskilling and training in between). This has been squeezed down to as little as 15 or very occasionally even 6 months. Lord Walker simply says, drily: “We try to make everyone suffer the same”.
The army is, however, perhaps much better than business at managing long term resources. Walker is convinced that today’s soldier is better educated and better prepared ab initio than when he first joined up. There is also no shortage of technical skills (despite what the media so often says). “There’s no lack of technical competence amongst recruits today. We have far more mid-skilled soldiers today, and they are very willing to learn. Equally, here at Chelsea we have the latest broadband internet access and I regularly see our Pensioners (average age: 83) on computers.” One Pensioner, a Mr Barrow, is carving out a nice second career as the Hospital’s resident digital photographer. “Transitions are managed exceptionally well in the Forces. There’s constant training available during your army career, and the move to post-service life is impeccably managed, with workshops for every conceivable career choice and a good resettlement package. Plus you’re forewarned years in advance: leaving the army is not like being a Chief Exec who turns up one day only to be told to clear his desk!”
As the army is still genuinely a career, it makes sense to offer long-term training; a benefit sadly missed in so many businesses today. And therein lies the real lesson. We can still say “once a soldier, always a soldier”; whereas nobody would ever say “once an employee of MegaCorp, always an employee of MegaCorp”. Defence departments may be slow-moving beasts, but despite recent criticisms of a breakdown in the Military Contract, the army does try to offer a cradle-to-grave career. It’s a fact borne out in bright scarlet at the home designed to give companionship to “men broken by age and war” in the words of Charles II, to whom the nation owes a debt of gratitude.
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